Facebook Free Basics Withdrawn From India

Earlier in the week we heard that the telecom regulator in India had decided to ban Facebook Free Basics in the country over net neutrality concerns.

Now the social network has officially withdrawn Facebook Free Basics in India after the ruling by the regulators.

“Free Basics is no longer available to people in India,” said a Facebook spokesperson, the company’s telecom partner in India who provided the service, Reliance Communications recently announced that the platform would be changed to a paid platform.

The service was made available to users in India on a no cost basis, it did not use their monthly data allowance, Reliance Communications has now changed this so it now uses their customers data.

Facebook has said previously that it will continue to try and improve Internet access in India, as there are more one billion people in India who do not have access to the Internet. It looks like the social network will have to come up with a new plan to increase connectivity in the country.